LONDON — The Rolling Stones will play 27 American concerts between March 21 and May 3 as part of a world tour scheduled to begin this spring, if current plans jell.

Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone that, “The U.S. part of the tour is very much unsettled with us. We will be doing it in March, but we’ve still got to get ourselves together here. It’s a drag doing tours, ’cause you have to carry the whole show around with you, not like the television show we’re doing. On tour we’ll be doing the material from the new album.”

No firm dates have yet been set, but it is known that the Boston Gardens and New York’s Madison Square Garden will each produce a Stones show. The Madison Square Garden date is March 22. Other cities certain to be visited by the group are Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Negotiations are underway for an “early May” booking at the Oakland Coliseum.

Promoters are scrambling madly to get at least one Stones date for themselves – and not because the U.S. tour is a sure money-maker. It isn’t. Last time the Stones toured the country, in the summer of 1966, they were a less than spectacular box-office in several cities.

The Rolling Stones’ U.S. agency, Creative Management Associates, in New York, are refusing to say anything about dates or percentages at this juncture. “It’s all in the planning stages now,” says a spokesman.

Jagger recently told a British radio interviewer that the tour would take them round-the world. Presumably, the Stones would venture to Australia and Japan, where they have a considerable following.

The last dates, said the Mick, will take place in Europe, “finishing up in the Mother country.”

Space is being booked on Flight 505.

LONDON — The Rolling Stones’ first TV spectacular, an hour-long color “Rolling Stones Rock ‘n Roll Circus,” is planned for the Christmas season in the US and Great Britain. The Stones will star in a show with Traffic and several other rock acts, eventually to be distributed world-wide.

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It’s going to be a real circus, with clowns, animals and audience. Filming starts in early December. (New Musical Express says one of the clowns will be Mia Farrow).

“Circus” is being directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed the film of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” which appeared on American television last summer. Lindsay-Hogg also filmed The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” clips and has been signed to film the upcoming “live” shows The Beatles are planning for the first of next year. (The December 15-16 dates for the Beatues have been put off till at least January 1.) Along with Traffic and the Stones will be Taj Mahal, Dr. John the Night Tripper, and several other British and American groups.

The Stones can be expected to perform at least two tracks from Beggar’s Banquet, and possibly some of the new material recorded for Christmas release in mid-November. The only question is, are they going to let Mick wear the big silk hat and carry a whip?